Midwest Monday: Stephanie of Milwaukee Vegan Bake Sale

It’s Midwest Monday again! Every MoFo Monday I am featuring a vegan doing their thing in the midwest, with an emphasis on Milwaukee. Mostly for alliteration of course, but also because I live here and know some wonderful people doing amazing things!

Today’s Midwest Monday interviewee is Stephanie of Milwaukee Vegan Bake Sale! I met Stephanie while volunteering at the very first bake sale almost two years ago (crazy!), which was held at the Riverwest Co-op! If you’ve ever been to the Co-op, it’s not the tiniest place ever, but definitely not the most spacious! There isn’t much room to set up a table for a bake sale, so everything was set up next to the cash register and the place was filled to the brim with hungry vegans (and non-vegans!) wanting to help out a good cause. Since then, Vegan Bake Sale has moved to a much larger location, the Urban Ecology Center, a really great place to be. Bake sales have been planned bi-annually since the first one and draw a huge crowd! Now, let’s talk to Steph, the lady behind it all!

How long have you been vegan in Milwaukee? What is your favorite vegan meal and dessert here?
I’ve been vegan in Milwaukee since March of 2004, so nearly eight years. My absolute favorite vegan meal in town is Beans & Barley’s balsamic tofu sandwich: marinated tofu, spinach, peperoncini, a splash of herbed olive oil, and a healthy spread of Veganaise on a toasted baguette. Every time I eat it, I think, “Yes! I would be totally satisfied if this was my last meal.” Hue’s Bún Chay with extra tofu is a close second. I’m also pretty spoiled in knowing some obscenely talented vegan bakers — my favorite desserts in town are your salted caramel cupcakes and Compassionate Cake’s margarita cupcakes. The espresso Oreo soy ice cream at Babe’s in Bay View is also most excellent.

How did the idea for Milwaukee Vegan Bake Sale come about?
When the inimitable Isa sent out a call for vegan bakers to come together and hold bake sales to raise money for charitable organizations following the earthquake in Haiti, this train of thought took about a week to progress in my brain: “Wow, it would be neat if someone else did this! I would bake for it, because I know I couldn’t organize it. Well, maybe I could. I guess I could try. Hey, wait: I should! I can! I will!” Finding a venue was surprisingly easy. I was amazed at the turnout — people started lining up half an hour before the sale even started, all in freezing, snowy January — and by the passion, kindness, and generosity displayed by every person who volunteered and donated. It lifted my spirits to a degree I hadn’t thought possible, which made it clear that I should probably keep going. So here we are at bake sale #4, which will be in mid-November (specific date TBD).

How do you choose what charities to donate to?
For the first bake sale, it was obviously going to be something related to Haiti. My employer was offering a 100% match of all employees’ donations to American Red Cross, so I decided to double our fundraising efforts by sending the proceeds to ARC. The second bake sale was right around Thanksgiving, which inspired my selection of Hunger Task Force (a wonderful local charity whose mission is to end hunger through advocacy and food banking, and who subsequently tend to need more donations around the holidays). The third bake sale happened right around the Sendai earthquake, inspiring the funds to go to one of my favorite charities of all time, Doctors Without Borders. For the bake sales that have yet to occur, I’d like to focus more on smaller non-profits, places where the $400-600 we can donate might make a real difference in their day-to-day operations.

I’ve definitely noticed how MVBS garners a sense of community and connects people. What have been the most rewarding aspects of getting involved in bake sales?
The most rewarding thing has been meeting a bunch of truly amazing, inspired and inspiring people with whom I regularly have dinner, make inappropriate jokes, exchange Biscoff-related gifts, and discuss ways to make our city more vegan-friendly all at the same time. Raising thousands of dollars baking and selling vegan food — we’ve donated nearly $3,500 through just three bake sales — has been great, too! I had zero experience with non-political activism (or other vegans in Milwaukee!) prior to the first bake sale, and it’s been incredibly rewarding and inspiring to discover such compassionate, thoughtful, and generous activists in my hometown. After years of shuffling around thinking I was a lone weirdo who only ate plants, thanks to connecting to so many awesome vegans here in town, I feel like our activism and outreach work in Milwaukee is just beginning.

You just recently started a Facebook page and Twitter for MVBS. How has using social media affected the process of organizing and promoting bake sales?
It should be noted (and obvious, to anyone who’s aware of my online presence) that I’m still really, really bad interacting with the internet at large. Facebook, Twitter, blogging, etc. remain somewhat mysterious to me. I was so late to jump on the social media bandwagon that I still feel overwhelmed and inept, almost like an octogenarian who’s just seen a computer for the first time. But even with my limited Web 2.0 skill set, the use of social media when it comes to organizing and connecting with donors and bakers has been inestimable. After struggling through two sales with a bunch of no-call no-shows, the number of bakers who followed through with their donations literally doubled once I hopped onto Facebook, and the ease of amplifying promotional efforts has been fantastic.

What advice would you give to someone looking to start a bake sale in their city? What about venues, pricing, and the best ways to keep organized?
The biggest piece of advice would be to just do it! You can do it! I believe in you! The people you’ll meet and the generosity they’re going to display will bowl you over. Bonus: You’ll be surprised at just how many people are desperate for vegan baked goods, and pleased to discover just how many vegans are hiding in your very own town. The second-biggest piece of advice would be to fine-tune your organizational skills. The night before the sale, you’ll want to have everything packed, labeled (indications as to what’s sugar-free, soy-free, nut-free & gluten-free are great), and separated by price point. Bring napkins, plates, to-go containers, and several sets of serving tongs. Pre-slice all of the cakes and breads. Copy some handouts about vegan baking for curious omnis. And remember to breathe! Having the little details nailed down in advance will make the day of the sale much less stressful.

Venues: I completely lucked out by partnering with a wonderful organization (Urban Ecology Center) that has generously offered to let me hold bake sales there whenever I want, for as long as I want. Since they’re a non-profit community center devoted to reconnecting urban dwellers with the natural world and encouraging responsible environmental stewardship, I’ve given them half of the proceeds from each bake sale, and it’s been smooth sailing all the way.

Pricing: I did not have good luck with ‘name your own price’ approach. When I did this, there were quite a few overgenerous folks, but there were also a bunch of people who insisted they could only afford to donate $1 but walked away with handfuls of treats — “What’s the problem? You said I could name my own price!” With that in mind, I’ve been having wonderful luck with suggested pricing, where the labeled prices are your bottom line. Tiny stuff like date balls and uncomplicated baked goods like regular chocolate chip cookies are anywhere from $0.50-2, plain cupcakes and more complex cookies are $2-3, and super-fancy cupcakes are $3-5. Even though these prices are similar to what you’d pay for baked goods in a store, and especially if you’re in a region where vegan desserts are generally considered to be somehow lacking, you’re pretty much guaranteed to run into at least a few people who will complain about the prices and/or try to stiff you — just remember to take it all in stride.

The best way to keep organized: create a simple Google sign-up document where people list what and how much they’re planning on bringing. Make sure to give people a link to view the document, which will help you avoid winding up with 30 dozen chocolate chip cookies on the day of the sale. A few days before the sale, send out a basic reminder email, and the day before, send out another one. This encourages people who forgot they’d signed up to let you know if they’re unable to follow through, which will give you a cushion of time to start baking more stuff to make up for it. If anyone has any questions about putting on a bake sale, they can feel free to drop me a line. This has been a wonderfully enriching and rewarding experience, and I’d recommend it to anyone who wants to encourage charitable donations but isn’t sure how to do so.

Thanks, Steph!